A Phenomenological Analysis Of Musical Engagement When Recording, Performing and Rehearsing With The James

Taylor Quartet

Dr Paul Carr

University of Glamorgan

This paper proposes to explore the creative listening roles

employed when working with the ‘Acid Jazz’ ensemble The James

Taylor Quartet (JTQ) during the years 1989 – 1990. During this

time the band recorded their 2nd album Get Organized (Polydor

Records 1989) in addition to undertaking several European tours,

releasing two mini albums, a promotional video and a single.

SLIDE 2 It is proposed that my dual role today as both an ex band

member and academic enables a unique opportunity to analyse

factors such as the impact of creative listening on the progressive

development of songs, arrangements, productions and performance

paradigms. Gioia’s (1988) comment that ‘jazz musicians cannot

look ahead at what [they are] going to play, but can look behind at

what [they] have just done’1 is pertinent, and this paper will apply

this philosophy by including my own and others reflections on the

creative listening process. As noted by Keith Sawyer (2007), ‘all

innovations result from a collaborate web’, and the epistemological

paradigms through which listening is an essential aspect in the

1 Ken N. Kamoche, Miguel Pina e Cunha, and João Vieira da Cunha, Organizational improvisation (Routledge, 2002), p.55.

group creative process will be discussed, drawing on personal

reflection and interviews with James Taylor himself. After

contextualising my role in JTQ, the paper will be constructed to

progressively examine research questions that have particular

relevance for performing musicians and composers as follows:

SLIDE 3

What are the means through which musicians employ

listening to recreate ‘pastiche’ sounds of the past?

How and why do musicians incorporate listening skills to

integrate authenticity into their work by ensuring specific

sounds, styles, production techniques and performance

conventions comply with the canon?

How does creative listening impact composition and

arrangement activities.

How do environmental factors impact creative listening?

As JTQ have a wide range of commercial recordings from this

period, both live and studio based, the paper will also include

textual and phenomenological analysis of selected compositions

and arrangements.

SLIDE 4 The James Taylor Quartet (JTQ) are a British based

ensemble formed by Hammond Organ player James Taylor

(b.1964) in 1986. Their debut single several months later was a

cover of Herbie Hancock’s ‘Blow Up’, and was released

independently through Re Elect The President, a forerunner of the

successful Acid Jazz label. This was followed by the band’s debut

album Mission Impossible (1987) the following year, a recording

that continued what was to be a long association with film music

covers themes, with pieces such as ‘Goldfinger’, ‘Mrs Robinson’

and ‘Alfie’ being amongst the works included. My personal

involvement with the group started around October 1988, soon

after the band had secured a record deal with their first major label

– Polydor Records. Having just recorded a third studio album Wait

A Minute (1987), it was apparent that the band at this point was in

a stage of transition, attempting to forge a more original, highly

produced funk based style that involved more original composition

and less pastiche than earlier efforts

James Taylor verified the transitory nature of the album when

stating

The various pressures on me at that time were enormous,

record company deadlines, band personnel, money, and

musical output. I had also just split with my old band,

including my brother, so it was a painful time for me,

therefore very rich artistically.2

After a short rehearsal period learning existing material and

auditioning new members, JTQ spent the end of 1988 doing a

number of one-off performances in the UK and Europe. These live

performances facilitated a testing ground to refine what was to be

the new version of the group, which undertook a number of further

changes during this period. This included auditioning numerous

bass players, in addition to reducing a three piece brass section to a

single saxophone. As JTQ’s recordings contained numerous

arrangements for full brass section, the ideal solution was to tour

with a similar line up. However, financial and logistical constraints

compromised this decision, and the impact this reduced and ever

changing band personnel had on band members’ creative listening

will be discussed later. Once the line up was reasonably

established, a period of intense rehearsal, touring and recording

commenced, which in the initial stages occurred simultaneously,

before touring commitments began to dominate. The dialogic

pairing of touring and recording is a tried and tested methodology

in popular music performance, in the case of JTQ being used as a

means of ensuring that the ‘permanent’ recorded versions of 2 Interview with the author. January 25th, 2010.

specific songs were not only performed well,3 but in an agreed and

acceptable stage of compositional development. Effectively using

live performance as an integral part of the compositional process.

As indicated by Sawyer, creativity occurs over time, with each

member of an organisation contributing small but important ideas

toward the ‘big picture’.4 Sawyer continues to discuss how these

collaborations remain invisible without scientific analysis, and how

successful innovation occurs when ‘organisations combine just the

right ideas in just the right structure’.5 By the time I had joined

JTQ there were no founding members left aside from James Taylor

himself, so it appeared to be an ideal opportunity to develop

material with new colleagues. Retrospectively, much of the early

rehearsal activity involved either recreating sounds from the

previous album - Wait A Minute, preparing for touring

commitments, or developing new material for the next album,

which was to eventually be entitled Get Organized (1989). This

dual role of appreciating and understanding past musical events

while simultaneously creating new musical relationships and

compositions was probably the most significant task that the new

ensemble had to achieve, and it resonates strongly with what

Sawyer6 describes as ‘deep listening’.7 The author considers this as 3 This was particularly important, as JTQ have a respected reputation as a ‘live act’.4 Robert Keith Sawyer, Group genius (Westview Press, 2007), p14.5 Ibid.6 At a later stage it is important to discuss how numerous other writers have used this phrase – although it does not always mean the same thing. 7 Sawyer, Group genius.

being the ability to focus not only on one’s own performative

actions, but also that of others, and this is possibly one of the main

listening skills that inexperienced or egocentric musicians do not

consider. As outlined by academics, historians and musicians such

as Lucy Green,8 Paul Berliner9 and John Stephens,10 music is a

social discourse, and it is proposed that the ways in which listening

was precipitated in JTQ was greatly impacted by the intentional –

extensional listening process and the social spaces the band were

working in.

8 Lucy Green, Music, informal learning and the school (Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008).9 Paul Berliner, Thinking in jazz (University of Chicago Press, 1994).10 John Stevens et al., Search and reflect (Community Music, 1985).

The Intentional/Extensional Listening Process SLIDE 5 (my

pic)

As I had been earning my living up to this point as a freelance

guitarist I felt comfortable with improvisational activities,

reproducing musical parts, or simply playing what was on the

notated page. As originally outlined by Chester, this

‘intentional11 /extensional’12 dialogic is important regarding the

expected autonomy a performing musician has, and it seems

logical to conclude that these factors must have a profound impact

on the ways that musicians listen to music. Whist the extensional

side is usually associated with notated music that often has little

room for creative interpretation, the complexity of intentional

music according the Chester is seen to be achieved by ‘modulation

of the basic notes, and by inflection of the basic beat’.13 Allan

Moore 14 continues this debate when discussing the potential

creative attributes of parameters such as tempo, dynamic level and

rhythm and pitch, regarding them as being ‘precisely the devices a

performer of intentional music will utilise’.15 However, it is

proposed that when copying these parameters from a recording for

a pastiche performance, they become extensional in nature (to the 11 Where meaning is considered to be ‘inside’ the music. For example a recording.12 Where meaning is considered to be outside the music. For example in a musical score.13 Simon Frith and Andrew Goodwin, On record (Routledge, 1990), p315.14 Allan F. Moore, Rock, the primary text (Open University Press, 1993), p23.15 Although he does cite the flat 5 substitutions of Howling Wolf’s ‘Little Red Rooster’ as an example of an intentional piece with ‘some extensional development’

musician) – the equivalent of replicating the notes and dynamic

markings from a musical score. During JTQ rehearsals it was

originally considered important to not only learn the notes and

recreate the sound of Wait A Minute, but also for each musician to

musically interrelate with new colleagues to formulate a fresh

unified voice for the new album, the latter often being an

intentional process. SLIDE 6a Both of course require very different

listening competencies from the musician and when combined

represent a tension that requires carful negotiation. SLIDE 6b As

no members of the original band were available, precisely

replicating previous sounds and style parameters from the earlier

album proved a difficult task, and although the current line up

comprised of numerous seasoned session players, it was

problematic to exactly recreate the raw style of the earlier band. It

is hypothesised that this is the reason why an unwritten code

naturally developed that enabled new band members to

indoctrinate their own performance idiolects (and listening

competencies) into the music, ultimately, but often unintentionally

forming translations of the original recording. SLIDE 6c In

retrospect, this was an important decision regarding the

progressive movement of JTQ from a mod sounding ensemble to

what is now considered a sophisticated funk band. The All Music

Guide seems to confirm this point, describing Get Organized as

‘the unexpected missing link between the James Taylor Quartet’s

early mod-cum spy theme sound and the later polished acid jazz

feel without sounding like either of them’.16 Regarding my own

creative listening role when learning these pieces, my first

impression was it sounded like music I had been aware of for a

number of years, despite its new Acid Jazz labelling.17 For

example, many of the pieces featured on ‘Wait A Minute’

employed a James Brown funk style guitar,18 which was often

played through a wah wah pedal.19 Additionally other tracks

featured Bossa Nova rhythms,20 blues based progressions,21 and

funk based grooves not unlike those performed by Jimmy Smith,

Jack McDuff22 and Maceo Parker. Although mine and my

colleagues’ performance styles were not the same as our

predecessors, the pieces provided a stylistic framework that we

were comfortable with, enabling us to straddle the divide between

intentional innovation and extensional replication. SLIDE 6d As

stated by Sawyer, ‘innovation emerges from the bottom up, [often]

unpredictably and improvisationally, and it’s often only after the

innovation has occurred that everyone realises what has

16 http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3cfqxqu5ldfe17 A term which James Taylor regards as ‘meaning different things to different people’/18 For example ‘Wait A Minute’, ‘The Natural Thing’ and ’Kooks Corner’.19 Indeed as a gesture of authenticity the album featured Pee Wee Ellis and Fred Wesley, both of whom were members of James Brown’s band during the 1960’s 1970’s.20 ‘Indian Summer’.21 For example ‘Jungle Strut’ and ‘Fat Boy Stomp’.22 For example note the rhythmic similarities of ‘McDuff’s Wade In The Water’ to ‘Jungle Strut’.

happened’.23 In JTQ, it is proposed that innovation occurred

because the correct balance of extensional prescription and

intentional freedom was facilitated within our social space, which

was largely precipitated by James Taylor himself. Upon reflection,

it is apparent that when re arranging the earlier album’s material

the adaptation of musical parameters is often subtle, and although

extensional elements have a dominant gravitational pull, there is

space for band members to be creative within the framework.

Examination of freshly arranged songs such as ‘Wait A Minute’

and ‘Starsky and Hutch’ taken from an ITV broadcast reveal the

basic grooves to be similar to the recordings, however there is

enough autonomy for band members to input into some factors.

SLIDE 7 In the case of the guitar theme of ‘Wait A Minute’ for

example, small variations in melody and rhythm enable the melody

to comply with the slightly busier groove of the new version.

Additionally, the ‘out of phase’ guitar sound contrasts with the

original, as does the form of the piece, which is considerably

shorter. As stated earlier, some of these changes were not

conducted purely for musical reasons, but were logistical due to

the smaller ensemble line up. However, all of the changes enabled

and are proof of the ensemble engaging with the intentional –

extensional divide, with both requiring specific listening skills and

competencies. It is important to emphasise that all of the members 23 Sawyer, Group genius, p25.

of the new ensemble were employed as session musicians, so were

effectively being paid to perform to the requirements of James

Taylor and the record company. Regarding the latter, James Taylor

confirmed that Polydor threatened to drop JTQ unless he ‘split the

old band and put together a new one’, in addition to allowing

specific record company personnel to be involved in the record’s

production.24 As discussed later, these factors precipitate a specific

social space with associated listening styles and habits. However,

core members such as myself were also in a position to assist with

the song writing process. In my case resulted in a co written piece

with entitled ‘Touchdown’, which I will now discuss to illustrate

how intentional and extensional listening combines with social

factors to foster compositional creativity.

24 Interview with the author. January 25th, 2010.

The Potential Impacts Of Social Parameters on Music Making

SLIDE 8 – listen to track first

‘Touchdown’ entered the rehearsal studio as a series of fragmented

ideas that were based on a harmonic pattern similar to Van

Morrison’s ‘Moondance’. When listening to the up tempo swing

sequence, it is apparent that this groove would not be possible if all

participants were either not familiar, or able to be quickly taught

the stylistic conventions of the Hard Bop tradition. After jamming

through the sequence several times, Taylor was quickly inspired to

document the melody of the verse, a modal theme taught by rote,

and originally played on Hammond organ in unison with guitar.

After further experimentation, it became apparent that part of the

theme could be played as a fugue, a factor that would not have

been apparent without the creativity that Jamming precipitates.25

After playing the theme and soloing over the harmonic progression

a few times, Taylor struggled to find a complementary section for

the chorus, so I suggested a 7/8 melodic theme which was

originally intended to be part of another piece. Although not

stylistically similar, it was decided collectively that the section

provided important contrast and worked musically. These decision

making processes were rapid, and to quote Simon Frith, were

25 John Kao has written extensively on how business ideas benifit from 'jamming'. Refer to John Kao, Jamming: The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity (Harper Paperbacks, 1997).

facilitated ‘not only through knowledge and interpretation of

musical forms, but also the social conventions in which they

occur’.26 Frith’s notion that the meaning of music for listeners can

change as it enters new social situations is also true for the

performing musician, who listen according to the environmental

factors they find themselves encountering. SLIDE 9 In the case

above, social factors such as record company pressures, the

informal rehearsal environment, current life experiences and the

personality/egos of the musicians, in addition to the fact that I was

working principally as a session musician, combined with the

intentional and extensional listening abilities of improvisation,

awareness of style, pastiche development and musical memory.

Eric Clarke discusses the importance of what he describes as an

‘ecological’ approach to determining musical meaning. Like Frith,

his philosophy is suited to establishing the means through which

musicians’ interact with their evolving musical environments by

reorientating and ‘tuning’ themselves to new situations, and how

the ‘goodness of fit between and organism and its environment is

not a matter of chance, [but a] product of mutual adaptation

brought about by an evolutionary process.27 This Darwinian

approach is pertinent to the situation all members of JTQ found

themselves in when undertaking rehearsals, performing past

26 Simon Frith, Performing rites (Harvard University Press, 1998), p.250.27 Eric F. Clarke, Ways of listening (Oxford University Press US, 2005), p.20.

material, composing new music and negotiating changing band

members. Although it may have been possible to reproduce earlier

sounds and textures more precisely, this adaptive approach is more

‘naturally selective’, enabling members to build upon their skills

and experience in order to develop something new, albeit based on

an established tradition. It is proposed that the means through

which all of this is achieved is principally through creative

listening, where the experienced performing musician develops not

only sensitivity to various conventions of musical style and the

playing idiosyncrasies of other performers, but also an awareness

of where and when to use these factors, depending on their social

setting. As Clarke states – ‘perception and action are inextricably

bound together‘(23) and this is often passive, with the results often

only being apparent retrospectively.

Conclusion SLIDE 10

To conclude, the ‘intentional mode’ of participation requires the

musician to quite simply listen more creatively, while the

extensional in its more contemporary perspective requires the

ability to ‘recreate’ not only notes on a page, but also textures,

timbres, style indicators, etc. In JTQ, it is noticeable how both the

arranging and compositional processes began with an extensional

stimulus (often the recording in the former, or a creative idea in the

latter), that then facilitated a degree of intentional autonomy from

band members. SLIDE 11 It is apparent that all songs on Get

Organised were either composed by James Taylor, or James

Taylor and another band member, although this was usually after

extensive development of the composition in the rehearsal studio

where everyone was involved in the act of concentrated listening.

This process required the ensemble to rapidly reference specific

grooves28, learn harmonic and melodic components quickly by ear

and be sensitive to sounds that referenced the JTQ tradition, in

addition to being aware of the social environment in which all of

this was occurring. Although many of these factors appear

intentional in nature when listening to the recordings, they are

often extensional to the musician at the time, as they often have to 28 Some pieces used existing music as a starting point.

be reproduced exactly. Regarding James Taylor’s own perceptions

of the listening experience, he commented

For me, music has always been a means to an end. That end

being a kind of merger and extreme level of emotional

engagement and connection with the listener/audience.29

This external ‘connection’ with the listener is of course only

possible if the participating musicians are communicating

internally, and Cahn’s observation that ‘in a cultural environment

where physically active “doing” is valued highly, it is sometimes

necessary to draw attention to mentally active doing’30 is

important. This paper has hopefully provided an insight into this

process. Final Slide

29 Interview with the author. January 25th, 2010.30 William L. Cahn, Creative music making (Routledge, 2005), p.49.